Doug_N

1 hour ago, SHCanada2 said:

hmmm, I think there are too many weird things going on, including the hockey stick looking wall in the "room", closet in the hallway, closet walls on the left being thicker than the bedroom walls .....

 

there looks to be 5 different thicknesses of walls on that plan, and thats not including the bathroom plumbing walls. It hten begs the quesrtion, how does one draw it in CA? would one change the closets to 2x4 walls, and then move the closets on the left all down, or simply increase the closets. I assume the latter, but then does one adjust the closet widths to the nearest inch, and leave one shorter if they are believed to be all the same. I would also assume that is what people do. But  maybe not ...

It is true you have to be careful, and the resolution of the system is to the nearest inch.  Field measurements are still very important. 

17 minutes ago, SHCanada2 said:

I'm curious. Did you actually draw 3 or 4 different wall widths for the plan like the pdf? or do you guess at any support walls, and draw the others as 2x4

 

I think the wall thickness shown is because of plumbing chases and an actual support wall.  Matterport is pretty good at guessing wall thicknesses from stitching scans together.  That being said, it would be a great ideal to take some actual measurements to make adjustments when doing the CA model.

Dershem is right!  Here is your file with the balcony changed to bonus.  You can then relabel it to balcony, and then rendering works fine.

OK, so thanks to DBCooper, I have this whole deck railing thing sorted out.  Please see the railing library file, and the sample deck.  This deck is only to demonstrate the principles of constructing a deck with cantilever balustrades, offset railing and stacked profile top rail.  Everything you will need should be in the attached library and the deck sample file.

Sample Deck with Cantilever Balustrades.plan External Deck Railing.calibz

9 hours ago, DBCooper said:

@Doug_N I think you are doing it the hard way.  You don't need to manually assemble your railing using 3D solids.  Just select one of your sloped top balusters, convert it into a millwork symbol, and then just replace your default balusters with your new symbol.  Boom, fully auto now.

 

I think the stacked railing is a good way to handle the top rail but in my previous picture I cheated by just using the bottom rail and moved it up where I wanted it.

 

Hi Coop.   Thanks for the method.  Railings in  CA are not intuitive but with perseverance and some ingenuity it is a pretty good tool.  Great insight.  Thanks again.

Here is a sample of two versions of a cantilevered guard rail, one doe with an assembly of 3d solids and one done with an automatic railing using a moulding profile for the top rail.

The auto railing, unless someone can think of a way to do this, the top of the balustrades are flat.  Assembling the model can be done with sloped tops.   

Deck Picket Cantilever Pickets.plan

This can certainly be done.  Deck.plan

Separate plan files for all the reasons listed by Ben

7 minutes ago, Mackenzie said:

Thank you! I wasn't aware I had that resource as an option. I think it would be very helpful for me to setup at least an hour training package for someone to guide me through some of the more confusing aspects in place of sorting through a lot of long videos to find the small bits of relevant info. The videos are all very helpful, but the roof relevant ones have a lot to learn in them.

2 x 6 ceiling joists may be able to support a floor, depending on the span of the joists.  Typically, ceiling joists are joined over a wall which may not be a actual load bearing wall because of support from the structure of the first floor.  I would recommend that you contact a structural engineer to review the loads that will be imposed by your proposed attic room.  That may be the best money that you spend on this project.  The cost shouldn't be prohibitive for a short meeting. 

You should also see if a building permit would be required for the contemplated construction.  If one is required, and you don't apply for one, and a neighbor complains, it could get very expensive quickly. 

One more hint, if you have a second floor with a roof that ignores the upper floor, make sure that the floor area has a room height definition that makes sense, and that a flat ceiling is part of the room DBX.

Also make sure that the open to below area stairwell has the same ceiling height as the rest of the room.

Hi Mackenzie,

I sorted out some of the problems that you listed in your post and adjusted the stairs a bit.  The pictures posted here were not my final version of the plan file (also attached) but it may help you get to the goal that you are trying to achieve.  I have suggested a 7' ceiling to get the widest flat ceiling practical using the 12:12 pitch that you mentioned.  It is not possible to see what the ceiling joists are for the first floor, but you should make sure they are sufficient to support a typical residential floor load. 

Attic Walls.zip

CA is a great tool for doing interior design.  I often sell my projects based on a few interior renderings.

This was just a very quick concept edit to see if this is in the direction that you were looking for.  There is more work to be done if you would like this to be a gull wing roof, working on the design with auto roof builds turned off.

sample.zip

Untitled 1.zip

Post your plan file so that the error can be analyzed. 

Hi Mackenzie.

First question is are you sure about the slope of the roof.  What is the actual pitch of the roof, and do the rafters sit on the ceiling plate of the exterior walls?

Using the model that you posted there isn't anywhere in the attic that would give you enough ceiling height for what you are talking about.

Here is a cross section of the highest part of the attic.  I changed the floor thickness to 2 x 8 floor joists (probably what was used for the ceiling joists) but that is just a guess.  I also reconfigured the stairs to have 10" run and about a 7" rise.    

You can set your desired attic ceiling height to, say 7', and set the roof default to ignore the upper floor.  Now you can create walls that will fit between either the bottom surface of the roof or the ceiling height of 7', whichever is lower.   But first you need to make sure the model of the shell of the house is correct, including the roof pitch.  I suspect the pitch is more like 16:12 or so.  

If you want to do new floor joists, and leave the ceiling joists undisturbed, they you just the method that Eric suggested, setting the ceiling height of the second floor to 1 inch or so, and then create a 3rd floor.  That would also slightly raise the roof, but then you can lower the roof by the same amount that it got raised by adding the new floor.  Do a before and after cross section printout to determine the amount that the roof got raised to figure out how much to lower it.

Hope this helps.

Attic.plan

Here is the code for winders in stairs in Canada (using the Ontario Building Code version).

Here is what the code says about the narrow end of tapered stairs (as in winders).

Ontario Building Code - Volume 1, O. Reg. 332/12, Article 9.8.4.3. of Division B

Ontario Building Code - Volume 1, O. Reg. 332/12, Article 9.8.4.5. of Division B 
 9.8.4.5. Winders

A-9.8.4.5. Winders.
(1) Stairs within dwelling units are permitted to contain winders that converge
to a centre point provided,
(a) the winders turn through an angle of not more than 90°,
(b) individual treads turn through an angle of not less than 30° or not more
than 45°, and
(c) adjacent winders turn through the same angle.
(2) Where more than one set of winders described in Sentence (1) is provided in
a single stairway between adjacent floor levels, such winders shall be separated
in plan by at least 1 200 mm  (47 -1/4").

11 minutes ago, cbucks said:

Sorry new b q: I am sure there is an easy way to do this but wow do I show where 6'8" of headroom clearance is on stairs on a 2D plan?

It would be really important to talk to a code expert about the winders doing 180 degrees.  Most authorities only allow 90 degrees.  

Steve beat me to it, but my post has nice pictures! 

Ok so your problem with the garage curb wall is that the 6" width starts at the exterior edge of the slab.  Take away the brick ledge and you are left with just a sliver of curb to support the framework.

In regards to what Eric said, the layout file does not contain a copy of the plan file, just a link to it that is a relative link.  The link only works while on your system.  When posting files, the minimum post for CA is the plan file.  

Managed to get it done.  This was really tough to do though

.

Steve, great video, thanks for that!  

59 minutes ago, mdarch47 said:

Hi Doug.  Thanks for looking at this and giving input.  For some reason on my end I am not able to adjust the roof opening....it keeps snapping back to the inside of the wall. And I did change the other settings as you suggested.  Oddly enough I got this dormer to work elsewhere on the plan??

I know how frustrating this can be when a dormer works in one location but not in another.  There are probably lots of things that the automatic dormer tool checks for, such as interference with other building elements that are not apparent to the user.  Fine tuning the parts is a bit of an art, and that is why this user group and some of the magicians here are such a great resource.  

22 minutes ago, tundra_dweller said:

Try opening up the roof dialogue for that roof plane & uncheck "Use Special Snapping"

 

Yes, I forgot that setting.  Good catch Brett,  That helps a lot with this.